Taking Risks, Quiet Support, and Creative Collaboration: Inside Our Design Duo LAB Talks
BY EMMA GEARY
Our favorite kind of mornings start with great people, strong coffee, and creativity in the air. LAB Talks have long been our perfect excuse to pick the brains of the Twin Cities’ most influential creatives, and this October, we asked: What do interiors and fashion have in common? What happens when two creative, entrepreneurial women collaborate to bring their crafts together?
We welcomed interior designer Anne McDonald and fashion designer Michelle LeBlanc to the stage, in conversation with LAB’s Emma Geary, to explore the relationship between interiors, fashion, and the distinct sense of place created when two multi-hyphenate creatives unite.
A chance encounter between Anne and Michelle at MILLE years ago sparked a lasting friendship and creative partnership. As both businesses grew, Anne designed MILLE's new headquarters, flagship retail space, and Michelle's family home. Here were a few of the morning’s most memorable moments:
Nothing Is Linear
We opened by asking how each got her start, and like any good creative journey, neither path was a straight line.
“I had no idea I would be doing what I’m doing today,” shared Anne. “I’m a person that lives very much in the present, for better or for worse. It sounds kind of dreamy until you’re also like, hey, I’m forgetting to save for retirement.” After college, she thought she was headed for immigration law, until she realized the profession wasn’t for her. “I’m terrible at logic. My brain is very creative, and the black-and-white aspects of it made no sense to me.” She thought she might be a teacher, or perhaps a professional snowboarder for a moment, but ultimately, she landed at her family’s construction business. “My dad hired me as his in-house designer for his building and remodeling company. And I really cut my teeth on kitchen and bath design and architectural design. I was doing interior design work, but I wasn’t ready to own that title yet. ”
Michelle’s path started early. “I was always really obsessed with fashion. My mom made all my clothes when I was a little kid.” As a military brat, clothing became a kind of social shorthand: “We were always moving every couple of years, and clothing was a way to instantly sort of express who you were when you’re the new kid.”
After college, she began her career as a buyer for Target and discovered she was “really terrible at working for other people.” Michelle began blogging and selling designer pieces from home, using her experience as a buyer more organically. “I was ordering vintage rugs from Morocco, and they would come to my house, and I’d put them in the washing machine and lay them on my front lawn to dry.” With a home quickly overtaken by inventory, she opened a storefront and eventually created her own collection. “We felt like there was a space for really easy, comfortable cotton clothing, so I made my,” she explained. “During COVID, our wholesale went crazy.”
Intuition and Taking Risks
Every business reaches an inflection point where taking a risk feels like the only thrilling yet terrifying option to move forward. For Anne, it happened when she took a step away from her career to be with her family. “I think so many mothers can relate to this: you may have started a career, and then you have babies, and it’s like you feel like you’re being torn from all parts of you. I felt like I was hustling in every direction and not really doing anything fully.”
“I think there’s a burnout stage that happens there,” Anne shared. “I was burnt out, and my husband was at a point in his career where he was just able to make it work with his salary for me to stay home full-time. That was a big risk.”
Anne described it as a pattern in her life: following what feels right in the moment without overthinking what’s ahead. “I’m not afraid to be like, no, no, this is what I need to do right now. I needed to be with my kids and feel like a mom and a wife and a neighbor and a friend for a while. It was a magical few years.”
In the interim, she’d taken on a few short-term projects, helping neighbors with renovations. In the process, she felt a call to visit Round Top, Texas, home to one of the largest vintage and antique markets in the country.
“I called a friend who has always been this person in my life I can count on to push me forward,” Anne recalled. “And I was like, I want to go to Round Top. My Instagram is picking up some steam — for whatever reason, people are listening to me — and I feel like this could be something. But it costs a thousand dollars for the plane ticket and a hotel. I'm going alone, and I have no idea what I'm doing. And she said—stop. Just go for it. Spend some money if you need to — which in business, in your own business, can be hard and scary, but almost always pays off.” It was the moment she began to be known for her vintage-driven approach, which has been a thread through her career ever since.
Michelle’s relationship with risk looks a little different. “Everything with MILLE happened so fast that it felt like more of a risk to not do anything,” she said. “We’ve never had any investors or funding. It’s always totally bootstrapped.” Her pivots always follow what feels creative, even through the lean years. “I've never had a fallback or a Plan B. So I just keep hustling. And I think that is one thing that I'm really good at: I just can't quit, because I don't have anything else to do.
From Friends to Creative Collaborators
Anne and Michelle’s partnership started casually, and that’s exactly what Anne loves about it. “Michelle and I were friendly, we were friends, but it’s not like we were constantly chit-chatting back and forth. And I say that because anything can come out of anything, you know?” Then came a text thread. “Michelle was like, I’m looking for space. And I thought, I should probably be looking for space. And it was so casual.”
For Michelle, bringing people together is the point. “I just want all the people I like to be in my world, so it felt natural to share space with Anne,” she said, which also explains the origins of her MILLE Movie Club at the Parkway. “If we don’t have something, then we should make it, right? And I love making people watch movies that I like.” The screenings usually have a fashion connection, and attendees often dress to match. “Sometimes they dress on theme — like last October the movie was Interview with the Vampire.” The club returns in November.
Anne builds community often through thoughtfully written Instagram posts. “There’s no plan with social media, and I think that’s what people love about it. Sometimes, it takes me two hours to write them. I just want it to be right.”
She also uses her platform for the causes she cares about. “I’m like, if I have this many people following me and interested in what I’m saying, I might as well say something other than put out pretty pictures. I’ve spoken about gun reform in the past, and to me, both gun reform and the occupation we experienced this winter weren’t divisive; they are things affecting daily life in our community.” Her posts led to an invitation from Architectural Digest to write about what Minneapolis and St. Paul experienced this past winter during the ICE Out Movement.
Design Comes Home
When Michelle bought her own home, working with Anne was a natural next step, since they had already collaborated on MILLE’s headquarters and developed such a collaborative relationship together. “I was moving in with my two daughters, and it was just really exciting,” Michelle said. “I could do whatever I wanted. I didn’t have to ask anybody if they liked my pink paint.”
The completed project has a just-right tension of femininity and strength, balancing soft pinks and plush furnishings with statement architectural details and Mediterranean influences. However, it didn’t necessarily start that way. “In the first design presentation, I went too masculine with the living room—it was a little too Tom Ford,” Anne recalls. Her takeaway: “I love working with another creative, but it also brings a certain pressure for me since our brains are so similar. With Michelle, or any creative, they can see through you a bit—talk about vulnerability! Working alongside another creative is one of the most vulnerable places for me to be, because I just want to get it right and create a space they love.”
Advice for Their Younger Selves
A cliché question we couldn’t resist: What advice would you give to your younger self? The version of you just starting? Michelle’s immediate answer: “Hire an accountant.” The audience laughed, and Michelle continued, “On the flip side, I've always been good at just doing something. It doesn't have to be perfect or polished or ready. Just go for it.”
Anne agreed: “Do the thing. Take a chance, take a risk, say yes.” She also urged the audience to “foster community in your field, whatever that is,” pointing to the text threads she keeps with fellow designers, where the conversation is less about design and more about “the business side of the design part of it.”
As the audience asked a few closing questions of the design duo, Michelle left us with a meaningful takeaway: “It’s tough right now for small businesses. So choose places you love and support them, even if it’s not with your dollars. Showing up, sharing a post, liking, commenting, all of it. If you want cool things in your city, you’ve got to support them. That’s my soapbox.” Anne added, simply, “You’ve just gotta show up.”
Showing Up Together
Thank you to Anne and Michelle for such an honest, generous conversation, to everyone who joined us, and to our lovely hosts at Glass House. We’ll see you at the next LAB Talk!
Emma Geary
Emma is Collective Magazine’s Editor-in-Chief and LAB’s Brand + Editorial Manager. She loves getting lost in a story and is sharing her own on her Substack, Lake Laps. Find her staring at the sun on her daily lap around Lake of the Isles.
